Georgia Takes Top Two Spots for Worst Polluting Power Stations

By Matt Bewig

 

Georgia leads the nation for dirty power plants, which are the primary source for greenhouse gases like CO₂, methane and nitrous oxide. To put things into perspective, for cars to produce as much planet-baking CO₂ as U.S. coal-fired power plants do in a year, Americans would have to drive at least twice as much as they currently do.

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released an online Greenhouse Gas Database that allows consumers to find out which power plants are polluting the most. The database, which includes the 6,700 power plants and heavy industrial sites responsible for 80 percent of all emissions in the US, shows that Georgia is home to the two worst polluting plants in the country—Scherer coal plant in Juliette and Bowen coal plant in Cartersville. Neighboring Alabama has the third worst offender, the Miller coal plant in Quinton, Alabama, while yet another Southern state, Texas, is the locale of the fourth worst plant, the Martin Lake coal plant in Tatum, Texas.

15th Syringe Found in Bartow County Walmart Could Be Copycat

Cartersville, GA-Following the discovery of a syringe in a pair of slippers purchased at the Walmart located in Bartow County, police are beginning to think copy-cats are to blame for the recent string of syringes.

"There's always a possibility, but like anything else, you have to look outside the box and see what all is going on, whether or not they're legitimate cases or if, in fact, they're copy-cat cases," said Russell Ballard, an investigator assigned to the case.

With the latest of the syringes being found in a pair of slippers purchased on December 26th at the Bartow county Walmart, police authorities and Walmart officials have both worked tirelessly to inspect clothing apparel as well as surveillance tapes in attempts to find the culprit(s) involved in these truly dangerous and potentially deadly crimes.

"It's agitating to us to not be able to find out what's going on at this point," Ballard said of the syringes. With 15 total found, 14 of them in the Cartersville Walmart whereas one was found in a pair of jogging pants on Christmas Eve.

Ashley King, a Dekalb mother who found the syringe in her 4-year-old daughters jogging pants, purchased them from The Athlete's Foot on Wesley Chapel Road. While changing her daughters clothes, King found the syringe with a red cap over the needle, "I'm just glad I found it before she did," King said.

From following news coverage, she was aware of the syringes being discovered at the Cartersville Walmart and contacted the police.

Dekalb County police don't believe the incidents are related, but as with the current "copy-cat" allegations, they don't know.

"This case appears to be an isolated incident; however, we are aware of the other cases outside of our jurisdiction and take this case very seriously. The case is currently under investigation by our criminal division," Lt. A. B. Catlin of the Dekalb County Sheriff's Department stated.

Click Here to see our first coverage of the syringes found in Cartersville's Walmart.